Join Refugee Action and advocacy group RAS Voice for a panel discussion on Refugee Action’s briefing, ‘Asylum in the UK: A Frontline for Racial Justice’. The fight for racial justice and the fight for refugee rights are interconnected and inseparable. The briefing and panel discussion underline the ties between these two important movements and highlights the urgent need to address racism in the asylum system. The expert panel includes Haleemah Alaydi, Yolande Ghola, Cathy Lebadou, Dr Millie Montiel McCann and Ben Whitham.
Haleemah Alaydi is a research consultant at Refugee Action, working on asylum as a racial justice issue. She has worked as a research consultant with universities and charities across the UK, including the Refugee Education UK, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the Office for National Statistics, conducting research on refugees, channel crossings and the asylum system. She holds a PhD from the University of York.
Yolande Ghola
Yolande moved to the UK from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2002. She has since settled in Salford where she is a City Councillor. She is the founding CEO of the Salford Community Upskilling CIC which supports migrants and asylum seekers across Greater Manchester to develop their English, digital skills and health and well-being. She holds an MA in Social Care and Well-being.
Cathy Lebadou
Cathy is a Human Rights Activist and an ambassador for the Lift The Ban Campaign. She leads on the issue of asylum crisis role on the Refugee Action Board. Cathy has led strategic conversations around recruiting and upskilling people with lived experience for better representation at a senior level. Her work in the refugee sector won her a Third Sector Leadership award. In Zimbabwe she founded the Jewels of Africa Girls Trust, which supports girls and teenage mothers in marginalised communities to develop vocational skills and into education and leadership. Cathy is a Lived Experience Coordinator at Greater Manchester Homelessness Action Network.
Dr Millie Montiel McCann is a researcher, policy analyst, and linguist who has worked in both academia and the charity sector. Her academic research work explores the intersections of gender, race, and migration. Cathy has recently published two research reports on the hostile environment as a racial justice issue for the Runnymede Trust.
Ben Whitham is Senior Policy and Research Officer at Refugee Action. He works on asylum as a racial justice issue, and asylum seekers right to work. Before joining Refugee Action, Ben was a Lecturer in International Relations at SOAS (The School of African and Oriental Studies) at the University of London. His research concerned the global political and the economies of Islamophobia and small-boat migration.
